The situation probably isn't that bad, but you need to be just a little paranoid and pessimistic to be a good risk analyst! Threats to information security can live both inside and outside your organization. Chapter 13 details a method that enables estimates of vulnerability using this type of probabilistic approach. Administrative accounts to the IaaS infrastructure are separated from normal user logons and there is no shared account for IaaS administration, Yes. Lack of Encryption – Protecting sensitive business data in transit and at rest is a measure few industries have yet to embrace, despite its effectiveness. The minimal mobile foul play among the long list of recent attacks has users far less concerned than they should be. Measuring the vulnerability component of risk is necessary but not sufficient to develop a comprehensive view of information security risk. There is a presumption of effectiveness, and in the spectrum of possible vulnerability scenarios, it specifies what fraction of those scenarios is successfully addressed by the particular mitigation method. These threats are events, sources, actions, or inactions that could potentially lead to harm of your organizations information security assets. In other words, one wants to know the probability that a future security incident will occur. 13.16 depicts one such cumulative distribution.13. It also failed to show the cause of the noncompliance to the policy. In this example, a hacker is a threat source, while unauthorized access is the threat action. ISO 17799 (27002) addresses the need to ensure that systems are maintained with an eye to continuity. They represent an insidious threat that has historically been very difficult to address. Johnston and Warkentin (2010) conducted an experiment and a survey on 780 participants using fear appeal to investigate its influence of the end user compliance. The important thing is to understand the real threats to your organization and to sift through all the hype. In the absence of actual security incidents, analyzing incidents that relate to a threat risk factor offers a viable alternative. Information security threats are not manifested independently but through possible contact with the gaps in the protection system, or factors of vulnerability. Clearly many people undergo stress and their language might change or not with little effect on their predisposition to steal information. Moreover, it does not specify that the mitigation method will in fact be effective. There is no mechanism within the IaaS infrastructure to automatically overcome DOS attacks, Yes. These threats are events, sources, actions, or inactions that could potentially lead to harm of your organizations information security assets. (2015) study was a long-term study which used the main base of PMT and added fear appeal, and the experience of fear to the situation of data bucked up. A given window’s performance specification relative to the effect of bomb blasts can be parameterized in terms of overpressure and impulse. To prevent loss, damage or compromise of assets and interruption of business activities, equipment should be physically protected from security threats and environmental hazards. The good news is that there are more and more information available every year that can help you to estimate the frequency of threats and successful exploits. Within Company A, it has been observed that these top threats have been mitigated to some degree. One might assume the worst case for a risk factor and plug that value into the expression for the vulnerability parameter. GovDefenders. Top 5 Threats to Information Security in 2020 In a year which has seen cyber attacks impact global giants from Toyota, Walmart and even Dunkin' Donuts we all need to be on the ball! If a future incident is deemed unlikely relative to other threats, then resources might be better applied elsewhere. The Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Review Manual 2006 provides the following definition of risk management: "Risk management is the process of identifying vulnerabilities and threats to the information resources used by an organization in achieving business objectives, and deciding what countermeasures, if any, to take in reducing risk to an acceptable level, based on the value of the information resource to the organization." In a similar vein, the explosive payload cannot be known in advance, but practical constraints dictated by concealment and transportation constraints limit an attacker’s options. Typically, these attacks would be conducted by a nation state against another nation state. They have turned to reliable non-technical methods like social engineering, which rely on social interaction and psychological manipulation to gain access to confidential data. Cyber terrorism is basically the move from physical acts of terrorism to terrorism in the digital sphere. This approach can be used to develop possible solutions to mitigate such threats. Moreover, this parameter is a function of one or more risk factors, which for physical threats could be distance, time, pressure, etc. A security threat is a malicious act that aims to corrupt or steal data or disrupt an organization's systems or the entire organization. To learn more about Georgetown University’s online Master’s in Technology Management program, request more information or contact an admissions representative at (202) 687-8888. Rami Baazeem, Alaa Qaffas, in Emerging Cyber Threats and Cognitive Vulnerabilities, 2020. Every country knows that their critical infrastructure is vulnerable to this kind of attack, and it is just a matter of time before this becomes the attack of choice for terrorists. Staff are one of the most difficult and also most frequently overlooked aspects of organizational security. In keeping with the Probability of Protection method, one might assume Qj and other variables are normally distributed random variables with defined limits, which can be used to establish a distribution for V. More than one normally distributed variable would complicate the mathematics but the basic technique remains unchanged. They focused on the organization insider's behaviour without considering their culture, gender or religion. Behavioural intent is directly influenced by perceptions of response efficacy. The overuse of this pronoun has been shown to correlate with a particular state of mind, for example, self-righteous indignation, which presages risk-relevant behavior. The impact component of risk for information security threats is increasing for data centers due to the high concentration of information stored therein. You could also assign qualitative descriptors such as Very High or Moderate likelihood to further describe the threat. It also has the fear appeal manipulation, but with adding a measurement to maladaptive responses. SQL injection attacks are designed to target data-driven applications by exploiting security vulnerabilities in the application’s software. According to recent reports, total costs are up 6.4 percent compared to … This is critical for the IaaS infrastructure because of the number of systems in such an environment. Boss et al. Therefore the mathematical nicety of normalizing the distribution is required so that the probability distribution integrates to unity. Krebs on Security RSS. Johnston et al. In addition, conditions change such that an individual can succumb to variable life forces and their behavior changes for the worse. Privacy protection, generally, means managing the release of personal information while diverting unwanted intrusions (Goodwin, 1991). that are capable of acting against an asset in a manner that can result in harm. We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content and ads. That means any new malicious code that hits an outdated version of security software will go undetected. A more rigid operating system and hypervisor maintenance schedule as well as an emergency or critical patching schedule should be implemented to ensure technological vulnerabilities are dealt with in a timely manner. On the other hand, fear appeals are ‘persuasive messages designed to scare people by describing the terrible things that will happen to them if they don't do what the message recommends’ (Witte, 1992, p. 329). Further discussion about these catalogs will be provided in upcoming chapters. Encryption is available when accessing the IaaS infrastructure and regular security scans of applications running on VMs are performed, No. However, a device detonated in close proximity to even shielded devices would likely cause significant damage due to the presence of power cables leading into the facility. This presents a very serious risk – each unsecured connection means vulnerability. However, once affiliation with an organization is granted, individuals are typically afforded liberal physical and electronic access to internal resources. This comparison yields the probability of vulnerability to the threat. Instead of relying on issues or incidents to trigger investigative activities, ongoing or regular packet inspection of the applications hosted on VMs can be performed. The preceding sections have focused on criteria needed to qualify for organizational affiliation as well as methods to confirm such criteria. The result of the study was that the intention of end user behaviour to comply with recommended individual acts of security is affected by the fear appeal. It leverages information on vulnerability to establish the likelihood that a given control provides protection in the event of an incident.15 One can use these results to make strategic decisions on risk mitigation through a direct comparison of specific controls. The challenge is to evaluate the potential for incident occurrence if historical evidence of security incidents is rare or conditions vary significantly in time. Threat Actions and Threat Sources. They used a fear appeal model which is an extension of the danger control process as described by PMT. Such a view is possible if one assumes one or more of the risk factors are normally distributed random variables or some other probability distribution appropriate to the occasion. The following is a brief introduction to the various headings in the ISO17799:2005 (ISO 27001) control framework for security. The networks of cyber criminals are more sophisticated in many ways than many large enterprises. They applied many theories and approaches to figure the relation between behaviour and privacy. First, the fear appeal has been used to grasp the individuals an existing threat without concern for behaviour change mechanism. Loss of information can lead to a setback for your firm. In Information Security threats can be many like Software attacks, theft of intellectual property, identity theft, theft of equipment or information, sabotage, and information extortion. Figure 1.8. Second, PMT assumes that all threats are personally related to the recipient. The cumulative distribution specifies all values of the parameter that are less than the value required for protection Fig. If threat incidents are believed to occur randomly, it is possible to perform specific statistical analyses, and such a condition accounts for the second method of estimating the likelihood component of risk. If the physical security is not maintained, logical security is doomed to fail. Social Engineering – Cybercriminals know intrusion techniques have a shelf life. Today, you can go on the Internet and rent a botnet or purchase malware complete with technical support. This condition often reflects reality. A high-level physical security strategy based on the security controls introduced in Chapter 14 is presented. Since in this simplified example the security parameter is a function of a single risk factor, the security parameter has been characterized in terms of a normally distributed random variable. However, the impact is not uniform across all end users. A risk assessment methodology should also be employed to recognize changes in the risk profile in the IT environment. The three principles of information security, collectively known as the CIA Triad, are: 1. The second study used the full nomology of PMT to a malware situation in a short-term cross-sectional experiment survey. Therefore it can be helpful to be familiar with these methods and to apply them appropriately if judiciously. Finally, it should influence your strategy and focus areas for risk assessments, as well as preventative controls like awareness and training. We encourage you to use caution and never provide confidential information via text, email, incoming call (by a person or 1.6. It is immediately apparent that this technique is potentially useful in identifying the return on investment for a mitigation method. Of course, different models will yield different results. To prevent unauthorized computer access, there should be formal procedures to control allocation of access rights to IT services. The scale you choose to use is up to you, but this approach provides a quick and dirty way to quantify the scope of a threat, usually on a network or application level. Siponen and Vance (2010) showed that fear appeal does impact end users' behavioural intention to comply with recommended individual acts of security. However, they pointed out that future researchers should consider the changes in the information security threats and technology might need new PMBs. Fig. The combined use of grounding, shielding, and surge protection could reduce the vulnerability to such threats depending on scenario specifics. Here are the top 10 threats to information security today: Technology with Weak Security – New technology is being released every day. However, they pointed out that future researchers should consider the changes in the, Boss et al., 2015; Johnston & Warkentin, 2010; Johnston et al., 2015; Siponen & Vance, 2010, Partial. The main vulnerabilities are caused by the following factors: Shortcomings of software or hardware One method to create a policy involves tailoring these controls to develop a set of policies and standards that will be appropriate for the level of risk the organization is willing to assume based on its business requirements. External threat 2. Assume a specific security parameter drives the vulnerability component of risk for a given threat. Threats can come in many forms including software attacks, identity theft, sabotage, physical theft and information extortion: Software attacks on information security include viruses, malware, worms, ransomware like WannaCry or trojan horses Carl S. Young, in Information Security Science, 2016. The publicly available emails associated with the Enron investigation have been used to validate the effectiveness of this method. Each of the other sections of the ISO17799:2005 (ISO 27001) control framework for security is mentioned in this section. Regular patching is used to remediate known vulnerabilities but additional technical steps such as securely deleting virtual disks prior to allocations are not observed, Yes. Also, the organization must be prepared to take action when senior executives are found to have driving while intoxicated (DWI) convictions, delinquent mortgage payments, etc. It is crucial to understand their motivation to truly model your most pressing risk exposures. By reviewing the literature, we identified a gap that religious beliefs are commonly not considered in the study of the user behaviour in the social media context. (2015) also used fear appeal theory and made an enhanced fear appeal rhetorical framework to motivate people compliance with information security policy and procedures. Therefore, security controls must effectively address this mode of information loss. Over the years, the threat landscape has really shifted from the individual hacker trying to make a name for themselves with flashy and noticeable exploits that are hard to miss, to the organized and financially motivated attacker who uses stealthy techniques to evade detection while slowly stealing data from corporations for profit. It used to be that system breaches and malware were loud and messy as they wreaked havoc on your environment, but the targets have changed for the attackers. Assessing the likelihood of occurrence of a future threat incident clearly must be a factor in decisions on risk management. (2015) observed the behaviour of 14,680 online users and argued that the result of their study supports the empirical application of routine activity theory in comprehending insider threats and providing a vision of how various applications have a different level of exposure to threats. Risk factors will be discussed in detail later in this chapter, but the definition is introduced now given its relevance and importance: A risk factor for a specific threat is a feature that increases the magnitude of one or more components of risk for that threat. Operational Procedures and Responsibility. This connection represents a different form of affiliation, and one that may in fact be measurable. 12 Sept. 2015.2Sterling, Bruce. In particular, as the economy suffers, sophisticated insider attacks are a concern (though there is no research data to support the assumption that the rate of insider attacks is on the rise). So, we’ll cover nine of the biggest cyber security threats that exist in 2019, provide some recent examples of each, and identify some of the ways you can protect your organization (regardless of its size). Some researchers have looked at the online privacy through the behaviour lens. The Stuxnet worm in 2010 demonstrated how specific nuclear power plant systems could be targeted in Iran and leading experts believe that this sophisticated and targeted attack was likely supported by another country. 12 Sept. 2015. In that case the probability of protection afforded by reinforced glass windows was the objective. How are risk factors applicable to measuring the likelihood of a future information security threat incident? Basically, this is the use of information security attacks for military purposes instead of private financial gain. Information Security Threats Classification Pyramid model Mohammed Alhabeeb et al. Let’s hash it out. However, such an interpretation is a potentially narrow view of affiliation, especially in the context of security. Cumulative distribution of the security parameter. To maintain appropriate protection of organizational assets, all major information assets should be accounted for and have a nominated owner. ©2020 Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies, all rights reserved. To reduce the risks of human error, theft, fraud or misuse of facilities, security should be addressed at the recruitment stage, included in job descriptions and contracts, and monitored during an individual's employment. Online Master’s in Technology Management, “Georgetown is a great school with an amazing alumni network. The vulnerability of data centers to high-energy EMPs is analyzed. They argued that by enforcing the fear appeal factor, the online users would be more careful and comply with the privacy policy and countermeasures. If you think that organized crime is still just like what you saw on the Sopranos (© HBO), then you are very much mistaken. Information security threats Mitigating information security threats is an ongoing battle. First, it reinforces the need to evaluate each vulnerability and threat for your organization and not just blindly accept industry standard risk ratings as gospel. The software is designed to send alerts when intrusion attempts occur, however the alerts are only valuable if someone is available to address them. The window specification can therefore be evaluated relative to the distribution of overpressure and impulse values. Information security threats are vulnerabilities that lead to accidental or malicious exposure of information, either digital or physical. The term model means that a parameter or parameters that affect the magnitude of vulnerability can be identified, which in turn is a function of one or more risk factors.